Rebel Wilson, who recently came out as queer revealing her relationship with designer Ramona Agruma, responded to an Australian outlet for an article that sparked outrage on social media with many LGBTQIA+ activists and others accusing the newspaper of forcing Wilson to out herself.
On Friday, Wilson publicly came out through a post on her social media, sharing a picture of herself with her girlfriend, Ramona Agruma along with a caption that read, “I thought I was searching for a Disney Prince… but maybe what I really needed all this time was a Disney Princess.”
Days after Rebel Wilson shared the news about her relationship, The Sydney Morning Herald published an opinion piece by journalist Andrew Hornery saying that they gave the Australian actress a two-day deadline to comment on her current relationship, which she had not yet discussed publicly.
Hornery’s article comments on how he felt about Wilson choosing not to collaborate with the publication on announcing her relationship. “Wilson opted to gazump the story, posting about her new ‘Disney Princess’,” Hornery wrote. The op-ed also comments on Wilson’s past relationship with a man. But the article met with severe criticism on social media, with LGBTQ+ campaigners saying it was unacceptable to put pressure on people to come out.
The Herald editor Bevan Shields, denied the paper had “outed” Wilson and said in a statement, as reported by People, “Our weekly Private Sydney celebrity column last week asked Wilson if she wished to comment about her new partner. We would have asked the same questions had Wilson’s new partner been a man,” he wrote. “To say that the Herald ‘outed’ Wilson is wrong.”
“Like other mastheads do every day, we simply asked questions and as standard practice included a deadline for a response,” Shields continued. “I had made no decision about whether or what to publish, and the Herald’s decision about what to do would have been informed by any response Wilson supplied.” Shields then said that the story that gained traction online is part of “a column in which the writer’s interaction with his subjects is often part of the story.”
“Saturday’s piece followed that theme in giving readers insights into our interaction with Wilson and her PR team,” he further added. “This was not a standard news story.” Concluding his message, the editor wrote, “We wish Wilson and Agruma well.”
